Loyalist 'used friend to get names'
A LOYALIST yesterday admitted using a friend who worked for the police to get information on people which could be used by terrorists.
Standing in the dock of Belfast Crown Court dressed in a dark-blue suit, 31-year-old Darren Leslie Richardson pleaded guilty to four charges of collecting information relating to the names and addresses of a total of 62 car owners which was “of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism”.
Richardson, from the Money-nick Road in Randalstown, also pleaded guilty to possessing documents containing car registrations, names and addresses which could have been used by terrorists, and also to a charge of having 40 rounds of 9mm bullets in suspicious circumstances.
He also admitted to two counts of “aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring wilful misconduct by a public officer” in that the information he obtained was from a man called Aaron Hill who at the time was a data inputter for the police on their integrated computer system with all the charges dated between January 18, 2004 and December 2006.
Hill, 24, from Neillsbrook Park in Randalstown, had already pleaded guilty to collecting information and to charges of misconduct in a public office.
During a previous court hearing when Hill applied for bail, the Crown alleged that Richardson had given Hill a number of car registration marks which he then used to glean the names and addresses from the police computer.
Mr Justice McLaughlin released Richardson on bail and adjourned passing sentence on both Hill and Richardson until next month when probation pre-sentence reports have been compiled.
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Monday 28 May 2012
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